Kath & Kim – Another Attempt At Crossing Oceans

Translating Overseas television has been more of a staple of the American airwaves than most people probably realize. A good number of classic, or at least long-running, shows are stolen to one degree or another. It is, however, a fairly new idea to put so much promotion into the idea that the show is stolen.

The shows that have made it in the past – Three’s Company, All in the Family, Sanford & Son, etc., etc. – were based on the general idea of their originals, but were decidedly Americanized. We’ve recently had two major attempts at bringing over popular shows from Britain, and we’ve seen the results of the “Americanize the show vs. leave it the way it is” debate. Coupling was an attempt at absolute minimal change. The idea was to simply reshoot the exact same episodes, and the only things changed were locations and specifically British words or phrases. It was an absolute flop.

The other big effort is The Office. The show was very Americanized, and molded to a sensibility and sense of humor designed to “work” for American audiences. It’s a huge hit, and it isn’t near to being in the same class as the original. The original being hilarious and somewhat cerebral, and the knockoff being occasionally mildly amusing.

Kath & Kim is the latest effort, and it seems to be trying to find a happy medium. It’s the kind of show that might easily follow in the footsteps of either of those other efforts, but it has a stumbling block for American audiences built into it – it’s populated exclusively with annoying characters. It’s the sort of situation that worked fairly well for Arrested DevelopmentArrested Development – Season One reviews, except Kath & Kim has no Jason Bateman equivalent to act as a reality touchstone.

It’s actually pretty funny given that there is only the pilot to work with, but this is a show that is going to need four or five episodes under its belt before any real judgment can be made. The pilot is so heavily “setup” that you’re at a loss to decide where the character interactions are really going to fall.

The show follows the lives of two shallow women as they find themselves forced to live with one another after one of them leaves her husband. It just happens that they are mother and daughter. It’s a bit like Absolutely Fabulous if you had Patsy take over the daughter role. If you don’t know Absolutely Fabulous, just say that sentence in reference to this show, and people will think you’re cool.

My guess is that this show is going the way of Coupling. Despite the giant marketing push (Coupling had one going for it as well), I don’t think American viewers are latching onto this one. A part of me hopes I’m wrong, because there is room to play around with this show, and as I said, it isn’t completely unfunny.

The pilot airs on the 9^th, but you can get it for free at Amazon here.

Here’s a preview.